The Moar Core Tour (Inactive)

Game Master BretI

"Nice rooms, and a nice long bath!" Damiar agrees, loudly. "With bubbles and fluffy towels! There was no stonework for Garif anywhere else, maybe the bath will have some."

"Everywhere. Did you notice the scarf that Eugressia was wearing?" Damiar asks. "Garif, isn't that a dwarven style scarf? Amauhauk was wearing one just like it."

Garif can't help but wonder if it will strike anyone as odd that religious pilgrims would stay in the nicest rooms available, but he doesn't mind the notion of a comfortable bed. And it does seem that the worshipers of Razmir do not stint on taking very good care of themselves, so perhaps it won't even be noticed.

"Nice rooms sound quite fine," he says, "though I doubt, Damiar, that there will be a proper granite bedstead or a well-carved tub." Concerned this might sound rude, he says to Addas, "But I look forward to a good night's sleep in your lovely inn."

When asked about the yellow scarf, Garif explains, "It is a style of scarf that is commonly worn by Pahmet dwarves - and I don't think Eugenia could be counted among their number. Since one of the missing envoys was a sand dwarf - though I must remember they themselves are not fond of that name - I believe we have found our first real clue that they were here. And that this place may be dangerous."

"As to where to search first," he offers, "I say we start with places where we won't get in much trouble if we're found there. As a dwarf, I could probably explain an interest in seeing the smithy, and there's likely no prohibition on guests visiting the stables. So perhaps we mine the most easily reached veins of ore first - 'picking the low-growing fruit' I think non-dwarves say - and start with the more public areas."

Thanks for the info, Dennis!

Phinellippa looks longingly at the bathtubs. After all that time at sea, a hot bath sure would be nice! But no, we have work to do first.

"Good suggestions, Garif! Perhaps we should try to stick together as much as possible? It will get difficult to signal each other, otherwise. Coquelicot, why don't you fly around a bit for an aerial view? Let us know if anything seems amiss."

CoCo flies to the tree, then does a swoop over the whole inn and surrounding area, trying to look as much like a normal raven as possible.

She hums a theme song of her own invention.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25

CoCo flies in a large, looping circle around the property, taking in the lovely scenery and getting a (literal) birds-eye view of the property, but seeing nothing that seems out of the ordinary.

"The Amazing CoCo has returned from a daring and dangerous espionage mission! This is a perfectly normal inn with nothing wrong."

Well, so much for the luxurious bath...

Iovo nods to signal her agreement with the plan and is ready to move out as soon as CoCo returns.

"Well then. Shall we head to the smithy and the stables, as Garif suggested?"

"Let's go!" Damiar starts marching in that direction.

An expansive smithy is set up in the west end of the stable, one corner of it occupied by a small cot and a neat pile of clothing. To the east stretch a number of stalls for horses and other animals. The southeasternmost stall contains an unbroken mare that snorts, whinnies, and stamps its hooves restlessly. You don’t see any sign of Rosh (or anyone else).

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27

As he enters the stables with his companions, Garif's habit of studying the ground for interesting rocks comes in handy. "Look at this," he says in a quiet voice, as he stoops down to pick up something obscured by dust and straw on the stable floor. Surprisingly, it is not a rock, but an iron holy symbol of Torag. "Our dwarves were here, that's for sure. I do hope they're all right."

Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 = 10

A shadow darkens Verrix's face as he sees what Garif has found. "The scarf, and this; the Dwarves were here. I wonder what they were doing in the stables? Did they have horses with them? They weren't searching for a previous missing party as we are."

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12

Iovo looks around the stable.

"I only see one horse here. The stable hand doesn't appear to be here any more either, yet I didn't see him come into the Inn."

Sorry, the description I gave wasn't super clear. There are several horses in the building, though some stalls are empty. Most of them are calm and/or sleeping, but the mare at the end is active, as described.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

Enchanted by the horse that she was petting in the first few stalls, Damiar does not notice the symbol of Torag until Garif points it out. "If the sisters are nefarious villains, they're not very good at covering their tracks. I suppose they thought no one would come looking."

With a worried look towards the southeastern stall, Iovo asks “Garif, is there any chance you can calm that stallion before it alerts people to our presence?”

"Well, if we know they came through here, we should look around meticulously! Perhaps there is a secret door somewhere?"

Phinellippa starts searching the smithy and barn, taking her time.

If you'll allow it, taking 20 for a 22.

When Phinellippa mentions searching, Iovo decides to start where Garif had found the holy symbol.

Will also take 20 for a 26. If you will not allow that, bot me for a 16 (take 10) and two rolls.

Phinellippa takes her time examining the smithy and the barn, while the horse in the back continues to stamp and whinny, though so far it does not seem to have drawn any attention. She does not find anything out of the ordinary in the smithy or in the parts of the barn she is able to easily access.

When she approaches the back stall, the horse continues to neigh and nervously stomp around. You can go into the stall with the nervous horse if you'd like, or you can try to calm it first (or some other strategy of your own choosing).

Phinellippa avoids the stall with the nervous horse, hoping that someone more adept with animals will be able to calm it down.

Damiar glances over at Phinellippa. "Can't you talk to the horse and see what's bothering it? Matthias, our tutor, was able to speak with animals but he could never teach us that trick." She smiles. "I always envied gnomes that ability."

When Iovo suggests calming the mare, Garif replies, "I can try, though I've never had much of a touch with animals other than Nico. If Phinellippa can talk to it, that would probably be better."

Garif has a +1 on Wild Empathy and +3 Handle Animal, so may not be the best choice for this. I'll try if no one else has something to offer.

Damiar sighs. "Maybe we can do this as a team. I'll try and calm him, then Phinny can talk to him." Horses were pretty, one of the best things about being on Golarian. Castrovel had its own wild beasts, but not many horses. She reaches in her pack, picks out an apple, and sings as she approaches the creature confidently.

♫ Beautiful horses that run wild and free
Hey, pretty horse, I have an apple with me
Stay calm and pretty,
Please hear my song
No need to trample,
We're getting along! ♫

Still humming, she offers the apple to the horse.

Untrained Handle Animal vs Domestic Creature: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22

EDIT: That worked better than expected! Note that handle animal skill may be done untrained with domestic creatures, per the exception listed in the final paragraph.

The mare does not respond to Damiar's song, nor to the apple. It continues to whinny and stamp exactly as before.

Thanks for the reminder, Damiar! I forgot about my spell-like abilities.

Phinellippa approaches the nervous mare cautiously. Casting speak with animals, she whinnies at it.

Excuse me, Ms. Horse. Would you mind keeping it down? Is something bothering you?

The horse makes no response, just whinnies and stamps its foot, as before.

Rees frowns slightly and approaches the mare as well, gesturing the others to back up a bit. "I'm not an expert with horses, but perhaps I can soothe her," he offers, speaking softly and quietly. Wild Empathy with my +1!

Diplomahorse: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

*cough*

"Wait. There's something wrong here. It doesn't want the apple, and it's not answering Nelly!" She pauses. "Isn't that... weird?"

Knowledge Nature: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14

Phinellippa frowns at the horse. "This is odd. It's not making sense. Perhaps it's an illusion of some kind?". Phinellippa casts detect magic and stares at the horse.

Rees' equiplomacy has no effect. The horse continues to whinny and stamp as before.

Knowledge (arcana): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11

"Well, folks, there's a magical aura of some kind here."

Damiar casts detect magic. "You're right!"

Knowledge Arcana: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

"But I have no idea what it is!" She sighs. "Shall I climb in there to see what's going on?"

“Maybe it is to keep the beast contained?” Iovo suggests, as she comes over.

“I don’t think horses can kick straight up, right?” she asks, looking at the horse’s stall.

Then she tries to climb up and walk along the walls of the stable. “If I was to hide something, behind an untamed beast would be a good place for that!”

Will Take 10 for a 10climb and 17 acrobatics to balance if allowed. Otherwise bot the rolls at +0 and +7 respectfully.

"Perhaps the horse is ensorcelled," suggests Rees. "If so, it may attack you the moment you are close enough."

He frowns thoughtfully. "Maybe we can use magic to calm it, or even put it to sleep?"

Edit: bah, ninja'd by the rogue!

As Iovo hops up onto the stall, Rees takes a slow step back to avoid provoking the clearly-real horse. "They can bite, though!" he exclaims quietly. "Be careful, Iovo!"

Garif watches in quietly mounting alarm as his companions fail to impress the horse with their various attempts at friendship and conversation. What ever is going on with this animal?

His alarm mounts as Iovo clambers onto the walls of the horse's pen, and he reaches a hand into his pouch of stones to reassure himself as he awaits the outcome.

The horse does not react as Iovo climbs along the barrier separating this stall from the next; it simply whinnies and stomps, exactly as before.

"Is this thing whinnying and stomping in exactly the same way every time?" Garif asks in puzzlement. "Is it possible it's not even a horse? Could it be some sort of construct?"

“Tricky! There is a trap door back here under the straw! Emphasis on the word trap!”

She is standing there, balanced on the wall of the stall alternating between looking down behind the horse and up at the ceiling.

Verrix watches, perplexed.

While still balancing on the wall, Iovo gets out a small rod with a saw blade on the end and a thicker rod. She uses the rods to manipulate something on the ceiling.

Disable Device: 10 + 8 = 18

If that doesn’t work and nothing bad happens, go ahead and bot the roll after a few mild elvish expletives.

"Or maybe it's not even real?" Garif continues to speculate. "Iovo, what happens if you poke it with something? Is the horse really even there?"

Not looking away from what she is doing with the ceiling, she says “One moment...just need to get this...” Note to self, get some better quality tools! Could have used a small jeweler’s clamp here...

Her attention appears to be occupied by whatever it is she is currently doing with those strange tools.

*mild elvish explative*, *mild elvish explative*

Disable device, Iovo: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19

*spicy elvish explative*, *spicy elvish explative*

Disable device, Iovo: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25

Iovo mutters and curses with increasing frequency and volume until *CLUNK*, the mechanism arm swings free, disconnecting the trigger from the effect. You think it is now safe to enter the stall.

Existential thoughts pass through Garif's mind. Is the horse real? Am *I* real? The horse sure *seems* real...

“That was more difficult than I expected, but it is done now!” Iovo cheerfully exclaims.

Looking down, she says “Is it real os is it a construct? Are those our theories?”

Perception on Horse: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25
Kn: Arcana about constructs: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

“I really don’t want to poke it with an arrow. Is there some sort of tool in here for training horses?” she asks.

Once Iovo says the trap is disarmed, Phinellippa gathers up her courage, opens the stall, and reaches out to touch the horse's face.